


A Modest Valentine's Day

by OtakuElf



Category: Modesty Blaise - Peter O'Donnell
Genre: Gen, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 06:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17802770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OtakuElf/pseuds/OtakuElf
Summary: Modesty goes walkabout on a warm February day.





	A Modest Valentine's Day

**Author's Note:**

> I saw that people were writing for Valentine's Day. Well, and International Fanworks Day. I don't usually do holiday things, and I've been away from writing for a bit. But I miss it. So here, for you all, is a Valentine's Day gift.

The faint odor of smoke carried on the breeze as she moved - silent and barefooted - through the woodlot. She wore navy blue slacks of stretch denim topped by a cream coloured sweater set, her dark hair pulled back into a simple tail. This was not her regular walkabout, just an unseasonably warm winter day enticing her out of doors.

A campfire, which could be any of a number of locals. And was entirely forbidden here. This wooded area was a reserve, owned by the individual members of a birding cooperative, and not open to hunters. Modesty enjoyed tramping the woods, and the elderly men and women who made up most of the membership were a colourful combination of characters. If the ancient, local captain of industry who first organized the group treated her as though she was the child she had never been, or as the daughter that never called, he did it with fondness, and not as a patronization.

His wife had witnessed Modesty seeing off a pair of thugs in the process of stealing their elderly but well-loved Rolls, but Mrs. Arlington had said at the time, “It’s not that I don’t wish to give you credit, dear. It’s that Albert’s heart would give out if he thought either you, I, or the Rolls were in danger. And all three at once? Best to keep it between us. But thank you, sincerely.”

Still, she didn’t really have a desire for company today. Best to move through without whoever it was knowing. She was down wind, not likely to be heard or scented if she took care. Though the smells that were coming from what was obviously a cooking fire were enticing. It wouldn’t hurt to take a look at the scofflaw who was probably engaging in a bit of poaching.

Ah. It was her scofflaw, tending to a pair of fish threaded onto sticks and roasting over the coals of the fire. “Having a quiet afternoon, Willie love?” Modesty picked her way past the thicket of briars and wild rose, and took her seat on an old log, thoughtfully covered with a car blanket and rolled to one side of the fire. “This is a little out of your way.”

“It’s Valentine’s Day! I thought I’d set up and see who came along for my Valentine,” he told her as he handed her one of the fish with a flourish.

“I don’t think the type of birds that live here would be quite your style,” she smiled and bit into the hot crisp filet.

“Only the one, Princess. Happy Valentine’s Day!”


End file.
